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2011 General Election Ballot Guide: Texas

Statewide

  • (+) Proposition 1 on the statewide ballot would amend the constitution to provide a property tax exemption for disabled veterans’ surviving spouses.
  • (–) Proposition 2 on the statewide ballot would amend the constitution to increase the limit of total outstanding general obligation bonds to $6 billion for the Texas Water Development Board.
  • (–) Proposition 3 on the statewide ballot would amend the constitution to allow for the issuance of general obligation bonds to finance education loans to students.      
  • (–) Proposition 4 on the statewide ballot would amend the constitution to allow counties to issue redevelopment bonds to improve unproductive, undeveloped or blighted areas. Counties would not be granted additional taxing authority, and would have to rely on higher property values for bond repayment.
  • (+) Proposition 5 on the statewide ballot would amend the constitution to allow cities or counties to enter into mutually-beneficial agreements with other cities or counties without being forced to impose a tax. Current law considers any inter-county agreements to be debts, thus forcing the imposition of a tax or creation of a sinking fund to pay it.
  • (–) Proposition 6 on the statewide ballot would reduce restrictions on withdrawals from the permanent school fund administered by the General Land Office in order to enable politicians to spend more of it. The proposed amendment would offer short-term budget solutions at the expense of the long-term health of the fund.
  • (–) Proposition 7 on the statewide ballot would amend the constitution to allow the creation of a Conservation and Reclamation District in El Paso County with the ability to issue bonds and levy additional property taxes.
  • (+) Proposition 8 on the statewide ballot would amend the constitution to allow open-space land to be converted to water-stewardship without changing its tax status. This will allow farmers and ranchers to alter the use of their land without changing from the lower “productive use” tax status to the more-burdensome “potential market value” tax status.